Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

10 month 1 day.

This morning, I watched the military parade with Fan Bingbing. I felt very proud of our country. After watching it, I danced and shouted in celebration. It's the third day now, so it's fine.

In the afternoon, Yang Che helped her move by herself. She was a young girl who was often filming, so she didn't have much stuff. After all, it was a housewarming celebration, so she danced around and shouted excitedly.

That evening, Yang Che cooked four dishes—three hot and one cold—to celebrate the auspicious start to the year. After dinner, they had another celebration.

It has to be said that the little fat man's physique is a perfect example of his strengths; if it were Gao Yuanyuan, she would probably have fallen apart long ago.

Actually, it wasn't Yang Che who wanted to celebrate; it was mostly Xiao Pang who initiated it.

The next day, on the morning of October 2nd, she even woke him up.

"Alright, it's just a few days of filming in Huairou, is it really necessary to make such a big deal out of it?"

Yes, Fan Bingbing is going to film a movie, "Ji Xiaolan," with a planned schedule of about a week, which can be described as seamless transitioning to the set.

After another round of fuss, I finally washed up and rushed downstairs, where the company driver had been waiting for a while.

After having breakfast, Yang Che started making phone calls to gather people: Wu Shixian, Song Xiaofei, and Lin Mu, to work on the storyboard for "Saw".

Song Xiaofei and Lin Mu, who were already excited about having more work to do, became even more excited after hearing Wu Shixian's story, feeling that this was particularly thrilling.

The two felt the story was just so-so, but after some discussion, they still thought Yang Che's design was correct.

Since it's mainly aimed at foreigners, it can't be too profound. A little bit of psychological thrill is enough; the main focus is on visual stimulation.

This is the difference between the two men and Wu Shixian, and also the difference between Chinese and Western aesthetics.

If we put "Saw" in the context of Chinese suspense stories, well, it wouldn't rank highly in terms of its mind-bending complexity.

Song Xiaofei asked with some regret, "Not using your real name?"

Wu Shih-hsien said, "It's a purely American film, but there are a bunch of Chinese people behind the scenes, which is a bit..."

Yang Che nodded: "Okay, sneak into the village quietly, don't rob us."

Lin Mu combed his long, beautiful hair back and then tied it up with a hair tie: "Then let's hurry up, aren't we supposed to be rushing to that independent film festival in January?"

Thus began the creation of the storyboard for "Saw," which was even more complete than that for "My Sassy Girl."

When Gao Yuanyuan was picked up by Li Xiangdong and taken to No. 8 Courtyard, she saw her boyfriend drawing a crayon picture, and she almost vomited from disgust.

She felt it wasn't just terrifying, it was disgusting.

Although her boyfriend didn't have time to spend with her, Gao Yuanyuan didn't feel disappointed. On the contrary, she felt very comfortable. Most of the time, she would stay alone next door, read books, watch movies, and then take care of her boyfriend's logistics with Li Xiangdong.

After all, it wasn't just the few people in the studio; there was also Cheng Er from Beijing Film Studio, Liu Chang who was still busy outside, and sometimes editors Yang Hongyu and Zhu Lin would come over for a meal.

Gao Yuanyuan felt very fulfilled.

Sometimes when the friends see Gao Yuanyuan silently sweeping the floor and wiping the table, they really want to strangle their Che-ge (a nickname for Gao Yuanyuan).

That's too much! That's too much! You have the ability but you don't even share it. When asked, you just say it's because he's handsome. It's so infuriating!

Time passed day by day, and the rough cut of "My Sassy Girl" was completed on the 7th, lasting 126 minutes.

Yang Che called Yu Dong and asked him to come over and take a look. After that, he and his girlfriend Zang Lilu came to the Beijing Film Studio together.

The couple sat quietly in the corner watching the rough cut of the movie, holding notebooks and pens, ready to start noting down the selling points. Then they burst out laughing. The opening scene, where Fan Bingbing was drunk and vomited Li Ding's wig, made Zang Lilu laugh so hard she almost fell over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Yang Che smirked, "That just means we did a good job, right, Mr. Yu?"

Yu Dong smiled憨厚ly: "Just this beginning has put my mind at ease."

"..."

Yang Che couldn't concentrate on the filming, not because there was no sound, but because he would think about the filming process for every shot, how many takes there were, how the camera angles and lighting were adjusted, how the lines were changed, and even wonder if the original plan would have been better.

No wonder singers never sing their own songs at karaoke; now I understand.

Afterwards, the group would pause their discussion from time to time, and after most of the day, they finally settled on a plan: a final cut of 108 minutes. As a popcorn movie, this length is incredibly generous by today's standards.

Yu Dong was overjoyed and insisted on treating everyone to drinks...

They did have dinner together and drank some wine. Yang Che paid the bill because it had been arranged beforehand to give Wu Shixian a farewell dinner.

Then Yu Dong realized what Yang Che was going to do next, and he couldn't help but smile wryly, "Boss, tell me the truth, are you really not someone's son?"

"Have you ever heard of any family whose son is as talented as me?"

Yu Dong was speechless. What he wanted to say was: You promised to release the budget, don't come up with it later... I'm prepared to bet everything on you... Of course, you can negotiate a larger share without giving gifts, right?

At this point, all I can say is, "You are indeed talented, but your energy is limited, boss. You can't delay 'My Sassy Girl'."

"Don't worry, it won't interfere with anything."

Yang Che understood Yu Dong's concerns perfectly.

Yu Dong felt inexplicably at ease after hearing Yang Che's words; perhaps Yang Che was simply too confident.

"I've always thought I had a lot of guts, but compared to you, I'm really far behind."

"Haha, we're the same. When a person dies, the bird flies to the sky; if you don't die, you live for ten thousand years."

Yang Che thought to himself: Stop talking nonsense. Although you're using the name of an experimental field, it's as safe as it gets. Even though I'm copying successful experiences, there are still risks involved.

.........

At 10 PM on October 8th, Yang Che and Gong Beibi saw Wu Shixian off to the airport... uh, right.

Outside the terminal, Yang Che shook Wu Shixian's hand and earnestly gave him some advice:

"Comrade Wu Shixian, you must put aside your moral burdens on this trip. We are here to earn foreign exchange for the country. Besides, in accordance with the supreme directive of 'Long live the great unity of the people of the world,' the Americans should also contribute something to us Third World countries."

Wu Shixian: "Please rest assured, leaders, I will definitely complete the mission of bringing spiritual nourishment to the American people."

Gong Beibi, standing to the side, was almost breathless from laughing at the two's earnest nonsense. Her sadness at parting had largely dissipated; they were truly in love. Hmm? Why say "also"?

Anyway, Wu Shih-hsien flew to New York with his script for "The Judging Saw".

Yes, not Los Angeles where Hollywood is located. After all, there are also a lot of unemployed young artists in New York, and even more of them are foreigners. Of course, the main reason is that his family is in New York.

In short, everything went very smoothly during this National Day holiday, exceptionally smoothly.

...........

When Yang Che returned to Courtyard No. 8 after dropping Gong Beibi off, he was dumbfounded.

"Why did you come here? Isn't filming supposed to wrap up tomorrow?"

Fan Bingbing, who had just gotten out of the company car and was waving to the driver, paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Surprise!"